Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour: review report

Methodology

The Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour’s work builds on this initial engagement work. This report takes account of the views, opinions and experiences of many people that the Group engaged with.

The Group first met in November 2023 and met regularly during 2024. It invited many speakers to its meetings, to gain insight and expertise on different topics and areas. This included representatives from Education Scotland, Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) and Planet Youth. Guests also provided information about the Cashback for Communities programme and contextual safeguarding.

Members of the Group also made visits to learn at firsthand what was happening on the ground. This included a “midnight” football scheme for young people to address antisocial behaviour; going on patrol with community police; in person visits to two local authority areas to meet antisocial behaviour teams working alongside a wide range of their partners, including Police Scotland; a virtual visit to hear from practitioners in island communities and a visit to a community enterprise that is supporting initiatives addressing antisocial behaviour with partners and young people themselves.

The Group also examined the results of various surveys including the national school survey ‘Behaviour in Scottish schools’ and CYCJ stakeholder survey (see appendix 2 for a full range of engagement over the past year and appendix 3 for further details on the methodology used). The intention was to review all 32 Local Authority Antisocial Behaviour and Community Safety Strategies however, only 23 appeared to be available online. This review was carried out, scoping all 32 Local Authority websites using the search terms “Antisocial Behaviour Strategy” and “Community Safety Strategy”, and where no results were found, expanding to “Local Outcome Improvement Plans (LOIP)”, “Community Planning” and “Community Justice” search terms.

The Working Group held a number of engagement sessions with representatives on different themes and from various sectors. These people came from many backgrounds, some shared their personal experiences, some spoke on behalf of others who had experienced antisocial behaviour, some were representatives of organisations and some were practitioners. This included representatives of those working with young people, social work and community justice, Victim Support Scotland (VSS) including a council mediation service, housing and health, transport, retail, equalities groups, and a fast-food provider that is supporting work with young people. It also met with Public Health Scotland, a citywide pilot working with local police that is providing a compassionate distress response to young people in acute distress and Scottish Mediation and the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit to hear about a new pilot to prevent antisocial behaviour in Glasgow city’s “4 corners area”.

The Group met with elected representatives in a meeting with COSLA and also with political party spokespeople from the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Community Safety Network also held two community engagement sessions with community organisations in Glasgow and Dundee.

In addition, the Group considered further information it sought and received from experts in relevant areas such as Youth Link and the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit.

The Group also gathered experiences from individual victims who wanted to share their stories. People who wanted to take part made themselves known either through the Antisocial Behaviour Officers’ Forum (ASBOF) or to Victim Support Scotland and interviews were undertaken with Victim Support Scotland’s engagement officer. The interviews were transcribed and anonymised. A total of four people’s stories were shared in this way. The full case studies are provided at appendix 4.

The Working Group also considered information on approaches to antisocial behaviour elsewhere and briefing documents.

The wider general public were not directly involved but their interests were shared in many meetings, be that through elected representatives, people working in communities or representatives in the themed meetings - ‘lived’ experience was therefore shared. For example, this review did not include targeted engagement with specific groups, such as young people, mental health and substance misuse.

The Group recognises that meaningful and informed engagement with specific groups requires time, specialised expertise, and sufficient resources to achieve effective and impactful outcomes. Due to the breadth of antisocial behaviour, and the limited timescales, the Group acknowledges that there will be some gaps and that it does not necessarily represent the diverse views of the wider population, all communities or all under-represented groups.

The current working definition of antisocial behaviour was questioned with many highlighting how broad it is and open to interpretation. Collecting data / data linkage was also identified as being an issue, with there being limited accurate data about antisocial behaviour, and just a perception of what the antisocial behaviour issues are in different areas. As a means of addressing existing data gaps relating to antisocial behaviour in Scotland (see below), a Qualtrics survey was commissioned in partnership between the Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour and the CYCJ. This was designed to assist with producing an agreed definition of antisocial behaviour, and provide a clearer picture of its prevalence, nature, causes, and effects across the country. It included both closed and open questions, enabling the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data. The survey was distributed by the Scottish Government to key stakeholders, partners and sectors of commerce affected by antisocial behaviour in Scotland.

150 responses were received from across Scotland and a desk based literature review was undertaken (see A Review of Antisocial Behaviour in Scotland - Data Survey and Literature Review).

Together, all sessions and information has contributed to the evidence gathering of the Working Group.